tourism

Go Now
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Go Now

Good Day Brave Hearts

It’s time to travel.  The world opens it’s doors to you as disease and viral pandemics are under control.  It’s time to adventure and to explore this vast world.  The many faces of the planet are yours to discover.  Which aptitude will you use?  Will you travel into the ancient world, or discover the delights of cuisine?  Is fashion your passion, or are you a marine?  The world has opened it’s doors again and travel you must.  Be it in your fine homeland, or travel abroad, it’s time to stretch your travel legs and enjoy the delights of adventure.

Here is ancient man, your war torn scars are still with us.  The history you speak is compelling.  Early man with rustic housing, fortifications to defend yourselves.  The walls of your cities offer breathtaking views and the magnificent effort to build and fortify are world class endeavours, nearly impossible to achieve.

The awakening of life after war and environmental disaster opens new travel destinations  The massive efforts to sooth the pain of hardship and repair the disastrous despair of loss.  Loss of loved ones, loss of property, loss of livelihood, loss of beauty.  The harsh defeat, the relief of winning, the negotiated peace.  As seemingly endless international clean up efforts continue to repair, restore, reclaim the land and  the people.  Restore the beauty of the place, restore the peace of the people, build again the dwellings, build again hope and happiness. The  disaster is over; not really.

The environmental effects linger on, in tainted water, infertile soil,  poor air quality and effects that contribute to illness and disease, after the danger is gone.  Plant your gardens to consume metals and  bacteria, drink your water to consume pollutants, breathe air to inhale dust and disease.  The rampant disaster is still with us, but it changes, mutates itself and lingers on.

The Covid virus locked us in our homes for three years.  A battle to control a virus that consumed the world.  It’s under control.  Like so many rampant diseases, the toll is more than it seems.  The lingering loss of employment, bankruptcy, financial failure, displacement and divorce.

But now the shining light of freedom, world exploration returns.  The welcome mat is outside and tourism returns to a bright and shiny world, full of fun and hope for a prosperous future.  The freedom to choose your next holiday destination, to put that trip on the bucket list.  Now is the time to go, if you can.  Go now, before the next war, the next virus, earthquake, fire or volcano.  Go before the ice cap melts or before the earth shuts its doors again.  The odd urgency to fulfill that dream of adventure before it’s too late.  Before you’re old, tired and decrepit.  Go before your bank account runs out.

10 SINKING CITIES That Might Be Underwater Soon…. – YouTube

And if you’re forced to remain inside the safety and security of your own place, rejoice!   This is a place of your own, filled with memories of the life you made for yourself, the joy of your home, the joy of your people.  The tireless work put into that space.  Recount the good old days, when life was easy and plans were made and fulfilled.  Since the turmoil of natural disaster can change your life in a moment, go now.  Or rest easy in comfort.  There’s no place like home.

 

Written by Dr. Louise Hayes

April 19, 2026

Parks Day July 19, 2025
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Parks Day July 19, 2025

Hail Brave hearts

Come out and celebrate!  Renewal, rebirth, sustainability, recreation, sports, culture, history, wildlife, and of course, those fabulous parks that we all love and crave.  The great outdoors, with it’s most awesome, inspiring gifts.  Life, health, nutrition, wellness, the joy of living.  For those with cravings to climb mountains, hike in the wilderness, paddle rivers and lakes, and generally enjoy the wonderful nature that surrounds us, Parks Canada is your place.  You can visit a historical site and meet a historical person, take a guided hike, view wildlife in it’s natural setting and explore the untamed wilderness of Canada’s finest treasures. Parks is for people, wildlife and rare species.  It’s a showcase of our finest environmental and historical assets.  It’s an achievement that keeps growing as Canadians rush to explore and unwind in the great Canadian outdoors.

The wilderness is awe inspiring.  The grandeur of great mountains,  the shimmering pristine lakes, the bountiful beauty of endless skies and auroras in the air.  magnificent forests and wildlands, with all of their wild inhabitants.  The Parks are a place of wonder, of joy, of captivating beauty and fun for all of us.  This idea has been one of Canada’s finest achievements, from coast to coast.

Celebrate Canada’s Parks Day / National Parks Day – Nature Canada

The hearty homesteader of yore, who brought his family to these fine lands. Lands laden with hunting, fishing, berries to pick, native fauna and flora to digest and to heal wounds with.  Old traditional remedies to cure what ails you. The human history of the area is a fascinating study of the minds and will of these people.  Ancient old settlers willing to carve a niche in the fabric of the land.  Homesteaders scattering themselves throughout large areas of land.  Forts and lighthouses to protect and save us.  These are the historical ones, the unusual ones, who, through dauntless courage, forge a path for the rest of us to follow.

Old Indian trails to mark the way, historical rivers to paddle. These are connections from place to place, explorations for us to find.  The hikes we take, the trails we follow, the paths around the lakes, all take us to endless beauty and the healing of spending time in a natural environment.  The great good earth supports us in so many ways.

The environmental sustainability and ecological integrity of National Parks and provincial parks, help us to understand and appreciate the land of Mother Earth.  Here she imparts a knowledge of her own special ways.  A beautiful scene carved from a wild natural area, preserved forever for the joy of those who travel to it.  A visit to a special, superior place, of raw, rugged beauty for the adventurer in us all.  These are Canadian parklands, a wonder and wealth of natural and cultural beauty.  Rugged forefathers who braved the perils of the land, unbridled pristine wilderness for us to enjoy.  The National Parks are a wonder of natures finest and the brilliance of those who preserve these fine places.

Come and visit.  Celebrate with us.  Parks Day is a joy of celebration for us all.

Parks Day | Alberta Parks

Written by  Dr Louise Hayes

July 18, 2025

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Are We Cursed?

Hail Brave hearts

It’s quiet.  The days are long and the sounds are different.  Less traffic, less chatter, fewer people.  The night is quiet.  No street noise late at night.  More rest and relaxation, more time for self reflection and self interest.  An unusual change in reality.  The business of our lives has vanished, to be replaced with long days of self isolation and social distancing.  Communication skills and life skills have changed.  We vanish into the isolation of family.

Business winds down and phone lines are still.  The rush of commercialism has changed from endless shopping to buying masks.  Social skills have become social distancing.  The latest craze is hand sanitizer. We will learn to be clean, cleaner than we’ve ever been, by simply washing our hands.  Don’t touch your face. Wear a mask.

This new dilemma is an outstanding challenge of perseverance.  We win this.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

We win this for ourselves and for the lifestyles that we covet.  We win this for our families whose affection we cherish.  We win this, as if we are fighting a war.  It’s a virus, but it’s a substantial foe.  An odd set of circumstances bring us to this awful place, our lust to see new worlds.  The insatiable curiosity of other lands, other peoples, other worlds to travel to.  A holiday, a honeymoon, a business trip, a cultural exchange, all tourism, and the fine mechanism of money.

Bring me riches, bring me gold, bring me markets, bring me wealth.  Be it imperialistic plunder, or grass roots peasantry, bring me humans by the score.  The tourist dollars go round and round, round and round, round and round, all through the town.

An unprecedented disaster occurs which brings a dreadful halt to our wealth building module.  No tourists, no money.  No money, no gain.  So much of our time and energy has been absorbed in tourism, that now, the problem arises, how do we return the wheels of fortune?  What is our plan B?  With this economic strategy falling, what brilliance will replace it?  What dollars and sense will catapult us to economic recovery?

Slowly we return to the normal world of prosperity.  Build it, oh financial geniuses, build it with magic and wizardry.   Paint the pallet black, so that the recovery is complete, oh you awesome doctors of mathematics.

Meanwhile, what we can enjoy from this pandemic, since it befalls us, is the quiet solitude of our new found wealth.  Time.  Time to be home with recipes to try, with exercise class, online courses, email, documentaries, online business, social media. Time to indulge in a hobby, a new lifestyle, a project.  Time to change and to be new.  Time to rejuvenate and to emerge from the cocoon  as a butterfly.

The recovery strategy is markets, be it foreign or domestic, but business has always been the money wheel.  There are always other strategies.  The strategy of self help and learning, of exploration within Canada, of athletics and education.  A different wealth is offered.  A wealth of time, of restriction, of poverty.  The wealth that demands that people stay home, enjoy their own place, discover their own good fortune of the new, the unusual, the uniqueness of their own land.  This is a new age of discovery, of being the tourist in your own homeland.  This is the restriction of no money, when we can’t afford international travel.  Save us!  Save us from the devil that calls this a sin.  Save us from the mind that abhors it.  The self indulgent traveler who knows their own homeland, like the maps, the parks, the novels that are written for it.  Sing to us, oh great traveler, who recognizes those place names  and can check them off their bucket list.  The growing names of unknown places, waiting for a visit.

Joy to us, for the pleasure of this compromise.  No international travel, stay home and enjoy your place.   Joy to us, for this restriction of our poverty.  It is with great pride, that we present to ourselves, our own great nation.

Our travels become close at hand, perhaps only within the province.  Lucky are we, for this gigantic misfortune.  We have it to ourselves.  All of this beauty and magnificence, that we show off to the world, is just for us right now.

It’s for us, you awesome human.  This oasis in the universe is for us.

Written by Dr. Louise Hayes

June 7, 2020

 

 

 

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The All Canadian Dream

Hail, almighty human

Cast your worries aside and lounge in peaceful comfort and restful relaxation, at the fine escape of your choosing. An awakening of senses, and the joy of prosperity, your family vacation property has it all. Awesome human, your lifetime challenge has been achieved. You linger over a fine view of vanishing waterfront on pristine, remote lakes. Ahh! the luxury, the joy of living, the peace and quiet of natures bountiful blessing. Awesome, good earth with its tranquil places of divine landscape and meditative stillness. The great wild holds you in its palm and you rest in the comfort of the creation of the great earth.
Warm summer breezes caress your skin and cool summer waters soothe the aching heat.
Summertime bliss, summertime, prosperity and summertime escape.
The chattering family moor the boat to the dock. Another round of watersports ended for today. The lesson of summers play, to swim, to fish,to drive a boat, paddle a canoe, water ski and play at water sports.
The cottage is the all Canadian summer time dream. An escape of infinite pleasure. Luxury, rustic setting, an achievement for only the wealthy to share. A cabin in the woods, where no other human dare to dwell. The toil and strain of business enterprise, of work and perseverance, of drive and ambition, of properly funded investments, and cleverly calculated risks. Now to achieve the all time Canadian dream. A cottage.
Hail, almighty human, you have it all. Side by side accommodation on vanishing lakefront. An exchange of place, from city to country, from neighbours to neighbours. To dangle your feet from a dock into the cool water and to call this simple act, paradise!
The rolling waves change your view, thunderstorms move in from miles away, the stars shine in the heavens above and what was once a remote getaway has become a semi-forested crowded retreat, with unending views of cottages and neighbours.
A speed boat interupts the quiet paddle of your canoe and the call of the loon echoes in distant memory. A Canadian tradition, a Canadian dream, the rights of passage to the moneyed world.
Hail brave hearts, look into your mind, waters for swimming and with varieties of fishes, but no access for you. The call of the loon, the racket of geese, the sounds of serenity and the remote wild, vanishing to the play and intrusion of motorized craft and overpopulated shorelines, filled with summer homes and islands filled with people. The escape into a different suburbia, from streetscape to waterscape, from overcrowded city into overcrowded country. Farther and farther, more and more remote, more development, more noise, less privacy, less tranquility, less peace. The awesome call to the wild, hurried by rush hour traffic, for miles and hours along speeding highways. Go north, along with all of the other hurrying humans, as they vacate the city for lakeshore retreat. To campfires and sing-a-longs, to parties and play. The crowded lakes of cottage country, entice those with the funds to escape.
To the wild! To the wild! Go north, to the wild! To fulfill the fabulous calling, of the needed wild paradise, and the still secure, all Canadian dream.
http://www.discovermuskoka.ca/

written by Dr. Louise Hayes
April 1, 2014